So... so far, I have been able to meet my bento challenge goals, and other meals have been ok. BUT...for some reason I'm having such a hard time getting my butt off the couch and exercising! My main excuse is that it's so cold outside, and the streets are often slushy or icy, etc...but I have all kinds of indoors gear, from exercise videos to Wii Fit and Wii DDR. But I still can't get moving.

Maki, you're not the only less than motivated one at all! I finally dragged myself to the gym last night for the first time in a long while. My company pays for most of my membership fees as a benefit, so I had no excuse not to join, but making it a habit takes effort. I am so tired today (even though it's a good kind of tired).

In the past, things that got me moving were finding a class I really enjoyed, having a short term goal to work towards, and trying a new activity. It's harder to get re-started though. My main motivation now is arthritis in my hips that will flare up if I don't exercise. My mother (who is 65) is really suffering with hers and will probably need a hip replacement at some point. I really don't want to age that way so I do try to get back on track every time I fall off. This has been such a rough winter though with illnesses and weather though!

I'm having similar problems, yep. I have a great rowing machine right over *there*, and right now it has two boxes of root veggies, a cooler, 4 or 5 sweaters, a candelabra, and a potted Boston fern on it. Sigh.

I really Really REALLY need to get it uncovered, and get me on it. One thing that has gotten me motivated in the past is to keep track of how far I row. The maker of my machine, Concept2, is right here in VT, and I got some great 1-on-1 coaching from them a few years back, and even cooler, they have a pretty vibrant online community, including really cool tools for tracking distance, time, etc. And they have rocking challenges where you can win stuff like hats, buttons, t-shirts, and downloadable certificates. I'm a total sucker for data & swag :-)

So I think that after I finish reading the latest posts here, I'll mosey on over there and get reacquainted, and tomorrow I'll clean the damn machine off.

Are there any such online communities that might support you in your exercise efforts?

I still haven't found enough motivation to use my elliptical or my wii fit this year. I really have no excuses-I just don't want to get on them. I know that once I do, I'll feel good about it and I'll be happy I did, but just getting myself to get on it is the problem. I can come up with all kinds of excuses to myself that inevitably only make me feel worse about not doing it, but even that doesn't seem to motivate me. I even have two giant dogs that could use some walking, but it's so darn cold outside, I don't even want to take them out for exercise. I did finally dust off the thick layer of dust on my exercise equipment and I bought new batteries for the display screen, so I am thinking that counts for baby steps. Now I just need to get on the darn thing. ): Sorry, I guess I wasn't much help in getting anyone moving! If I come up with anything, I'll be sure to post it.

Lots of my friends limit themselves to ONLY watching back seasons of their favorite series when training. No row machine (or elliptical or whatever), no Heroes (or BSG or Doctor Who or whatever). If you love TV enough and stick to it, it works.

I work on a campus that charges me $700 for a parking permit but doesn't guarantee that I'll find a parking place, so I ride my bike 7 miles to work every day. It turned out that this took me one-half hour, whereas taking the bus or train would inevitably take me 45 minutes to an hour, and I'd still have to walk at least a mile and sweat and have to gather myself at the office.

Don't know how practical this is for other people, but I stopped taking my car to the supermarket. I live 20km away from work, so walking or cycling to work is not really practical, but there are supermarkets 10 min 15 mins and 20 mins walk away from work, so I walk to a supermarket most lunchtimes. Because I go often I don't have to carry huge amounts of stuff, and it is soooo stress-free. No getting ratty with stupid people in the car park and traffic lights.

Another thing I did was something Sport Otago ran, but you can do it yourself. They had this initiative to get people out of lifts (elevators) and onto stairs, and called it "The Everest Challenge". They gave you a sheet of paper with a pyramid of 1000 or so (I think it was 997 or something) little boxes on it (this is what you'd have to make yourself, the bottom row was incomplete and had writing in the gap), each one representing one flight of stairs (3.5 metres on average). The idea was to climb the distance Ed Hillary (our national hero) climbed from Base Camp to the summit of Mt Everest in the same time he took to do it, i.e. 47 days. It averages 22 flights of stairs a day, but you can count hills you walk up too. You work out how high you climb hills by using www.mapmywalk.com. I amazed myself by actually completing it with a weekend to spare. Of course I had heaps of oxygen and didn't have to carry an enormous amount of equipment.

Oh I've given up on that bit so far. I walked to work on the first day, but not done anything since. I find motivating myself to exercise is the hardest thing to do. When I work out the secret, I'll let you know!

We are lucky that it is summer here in New Zealand, so it's easy to find motivation to go outside for some exercise. But I just moved here a year ago from Ireland, where sunny weather is rare, so I know how hard it is to stay with an exercise programme when it's cold and wet and dark all the time.

I found that exercise DVDs really helped. My favourites were the Little Black Dress workout and the Hotpants workout. They were fun and kept me interested, but they made me sweat too!

Right now I am three weeks into the Couch to 5k running programme, which is great for beginners (it lasts nine weeks and has a defined goal to work towards) and is suitable for outdoor running or for a treadmill.

I find starting up a class of some sort will make you exercise as you have to go and you have a deffonate time set aside for exercise, compared to if you sign up for the gym or something were you have to make your self do it.

One of the big motivators for me is that my partner (who I adore) is a lot fitter than I am--former military, outdoor job that keeps him moving all day, plus less of a "snack reflex" means he weighs less than I do--and he's taller! So when we got a Wii Fit, I was determined to not fall more than a step or two behind him on any given game. I know if I don't get on the board and get my practice time in, he's going to advance faster and further than I do, which I don't want to have happen. Except in push-ups, so far, so good! I also invite friends over to try out the Wii Fit and practice with me. I consider it sharing the fun of good health.

In the summer, I ride my bike to work part way. I even put money down on a new bike for this next summer--extra motivation for me to get up early to get my bike time in!

this is going to sound insanely silly : ) We had a cd of army cadence (basically songs soldiers sing while running) that my dad has (somewhere) and I'd put it on our computer and get on our elliptical. Then, I'd usually start singing/clapping my hands along with it, which made it insanely fun. Then it was funny, because my family would wonder what I was doing, and always walk in on me while I was exercising, which I'd hate. Anyways, that's what kept me motivated for a good....week or so on our elliptical, maybe I should go find that tape again.

The key is music! Try doing cardio without some good tunes and its the worst! Pump up some music be it an ipod or a good stereo and it can really get you into that mood! Helps you keep going once you've started too :)

Something that's been helping me in these "I'd rather hibernate" months - is I just try for 10 minutes at a time. I put on some get me going music - a good 130 beats per minute and go for 10 minutes.

I'm also trying to get my hubby to exercise with me - so 10 minutes is how I get him working with me. (I suspect when I was able to out run him the other day in wii fit, it woke him up a bit. He's always been lighter and fitter than me. I'm in better shape and it won't be long until I'm lighter than he is.)

No car helps... I *have* to walk or ride my bike to go most places. Even a 2 mile walk to the yarn shop or the grocery store is something. I get very unmotivated when it hits about -15C tho, since it starts getting unsafe to go out. My real trouble is I never think to pick up free weights and work with them. I need to tho, since they're good for me, and they're something I can do when the weather is truly awful. And when I put in time with weights, it makes life a lot easier...

I find the main thing is have something you truly love to do. If I hated walking and biking, I wouldn't do them, not even if it was the only way to get food.

It's also a lot easier if you set a tiny goal, and make it the first thing to do in a day. I've been doing that with my spinning, since I want to spin enough yarn for a sweater. Doing 10 minutes a day, right when I get up has meant that I've spun maybe 50g of yarn towards that sweater over the past few weeks. I'll often do more than I "should" because I got started early.

I agree with lots of things said here - about exercise having a purpose. I have £40 a month merrily leaving my bank account every month for the gym - do I use it? No. However, since I started work in central London I realised it was more pleasant to cycle than take the tube and suddenly I'm exercising 3-4 times a week. I think I can only do it because it has purpose and saves me money. If there's any way you can incorporate something like this into your life - do it! Exercise has never been so...er.....easy?

I used to go to dance class and kickboxing class, but my mother refused to pay for them (and I've no money of my own; she took it all!) so I ended up having to quit. I'm supposed to start up swimming when spring comes around but that's still ages away, and I hate swimming anyway. I actually liked my dance classes, so I should really try find another one closer to home (so I can walk there too, and squish in more exercise!).

At the moment there is a treadmill downstairs, but... It's used for stacking suitcases ^^' We also have a rickety old-school exercise bike, so I got like 45min on that yesterday while reading The White Castle. I figure since my arms aren't really occupied, I might try to multitask and get something productive done.

Brownwyn, that's a really cool idea! I started counting my flights of stairs today, without really trying to squish in a lot of stairs ;) and I ended up with 30 flights anyway. I guess running around school from class to class helps. Anyway, I will count this as Day 1 and see how well I do ^_^

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"A common way to tell if it is well cooked is to throw the sausage onto a hard surface; if it bounces, the sausage is good."

My iPod is key when I'm walking. I download tons of free podcasts from NPR and listen while I'm walking. Music works, too, but I tend to lose myself more easily and walk farther and longer if I'm absorbed in a funny story or an episode of "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me."

I started with a 12.50 € stretching dvd (is stretching old fashioned?) I watched it (and practiced) only once (harder than expected) and decided that fast walking was a better exercise for me but here in Venice it is quite easy, I mean, I have to walk everywhere! It took me 25 minutes, today, to get to the bookstore and then back home another 20 but my body tells me it is not enought. can house-cleaning and bento-making be considered exercise?

I had an exercise mat (all my floors are wood, tile, or lineoleum, and the bed is a waterbed), but the mat got flooded, so I did my back stretches outside in the backyard. But then it got too cold, so hubby bought me another mat. Thank goodness, because stretching is how I get rid of back pain. Then I got some beginner Yoga CDs, and started those. Now I get a bit of soreness almost everyday from the stretches on the CD, so I'm motivated to stretch again to work out the soreness. Since I'm down there, I do a few other iso exercises too. Once I feel I'm in fairly decent shape again, I'm going to try a beginner's pilates CD next.

This is impractical, but I've been getting very good exercise running for office in a spring election. :) I've been going door-to-door gathering signatures to get on the ballot ... lots and lots of gentle walking, just what the obstetrician ordered for my preggers self.

I don't have cable at home but my gym has cable (and little TVs on each treadmill) so I try to time my gym time to shows I want to watch but can't. That keeps me fairly motivated to go!

For those who are interested in the Everest Challenge, the website, with instructions, is here, and I scanned a blank copy of the progress chart, which you can download from here. You have to click on the "download" button to get the full A3 sized chart.

It's definitely harder to "get going" in winter time. I was an anti-gym person for many years because I'd rather play tennis or something outdoor, but it's not something I can do alone. So I gave in and joined a gym. I'm paying more for a women-only, spa-like gym, and it's worth it! It'd be a waste of $ if I don't go.
(Tip #1) I go there after work on my way home, because I know if I go home first I will not want to go out any more.
(Tip #2) Mix it up. I only go to group exercise classes at the gym. Today might be cardio workout like kickboxing, and tomorrow might be yoga.
Enjoy the burning sensation of the muscles, and the cleansing sweat to purge all the pores of your skin. At least that's how I look at it.

Just try to stick to some of the more fun things like the skiiing or hoola hoop or... whatever you happen to find entertaining. The hardest thing is just bringing that darn balance board out. If you just can convince yourself to at least do the daily fitness test you should probably be able to take the next step and do a few minutes of the workouts.

I don't exercise, I just have hobbies that burn calories - like hiking or gardening or rollerblading (granted, I live in Florida so this is fairly easy). But, maybe if you did not call it exercise and just had fun - dancing and yoga work too.

Actually, I think a heartrate monitor is a great tool even for people who have healthy hearts. It really helps keep you in in an ideal target range for aerobic (fat-burning) exercise. I always wear one when I do exercise. (I actually did today, a bit, yay.)

My motivation to get to the gym is my small-sized wetsuit. My motivation to stay at the gym is my ipod video. I download a movie, then watch it on the elliptical, and 60 minutes of cardio goes by really quickly.

Thank you for the chart, Bronwyn! I have printed it out and my team at work is going to see how quickly we can complete it as a group. Everybody wants to get a bit healthier so I think it's a great idea to work together on something :)

I feel your shiver and match it with one of mine. Brrrrrrrr. The small drive to my gym is always hardest since I go in the mornings: no sunlight, sound of ice crunching beneath your sneakers, and huge bursts our clouds from between your lips as you struggle to find the car keys and hold your water bottle by its least cold parts.

This will be the second straight day for me. Not a huge accomplishment to anyone unless they realized how absolutely lazy I am. Then it's all-around gasps of amazement. LOL

To motivate myself, sometimes I'll sleep in my workout clothes, so I won't have to slog around the bedroom pretending to look ever so closely for that elusive sock of a pair. I also try to go to bed in time to allow at least 7-8 hours of sleep. I make it a ritual...like a nightly spa appointment. Each night it's wash and a choice of exfoliate/mud mask/mild tone and moisturize. All to a little mood music: Bach for the Bath. A few spritzes of lavender bedroom spray and I'm out like a log. Also, try and keep everything in one spot. The longer I look for something (keys, jacket, glasses, mp3 player) the more time ticks by until my lazy side starts arguing for us to just scratch this particular day and start over again tomorrow. This way I have no excuses.

One thing I like to do during the colder months, since I don't have motivation to run in the frigid temperatures, is jump rope. You can really get yourself moving with 10 minutes of jump-roping; the only problem is that it's pretty intense. One way to start off (this is what I had to do a few years ago) is do an extra bounce in between each slow turn of the rope. That way you don't hit yourself or mess up your cadence. Sorry if this doesn't help, because, as I said, it is pretty challenging to jump rope for even ten minutes.

Good luck! You'll have to do it pretty much all on stairs in Christchurch, unless you live in the Port Hills. It was quite easy to do in Dunedin, even though I only work up two flights of stairs, because wherever I walk I can take a short detour up a hill.

I love sport! What makes me do it is to remimber the good feeling (plesure) I had at the end of the last session. I know that my day will be marvelous after it. It helps me finding new ideas when I'm facing a problem (specially jogging does that). To begin, I bought expensive shoes and stuff and forced me to do the best of it. It's worth it, exercice is a friend that don't betray you.

I just think of one word : Bikini and there I go (to the gym).
My personal motto is : getting to the gym is half the battle.
Beach season is around the corner here in greece give or take 5-6 months but its a thought that keeps me going since I adore the sun and the beach. Well that and that if one is overweight it is much harder to take it off as time passes.....

For me, music is a wonderful motivator. At the gym, my workout machine of choice is the StairMonster. I get on it, put the music in my ears and I DANCE. No plain stairsteppin' for me, no way. I swing my arms and well, it really looks like I'm on a dance floor. I may look strange, but I don't care. This is MY journey and it is something that works for ME. Many moons ago, when I had an apt with more space, I'd put on all kinds of music and just let it move me. I love to dance.

I had a heart problem last year so I have to wear a heart monitor when I exercise. I go to the gym and have a trainer twice a week. I walk to and from work which is 15 blocks or so. Today my trainer had me walk up and down a flight of stairs three times. My heartrate went from 105-170... Still every day I'm getting stronger, so just keep on keeping on.

I have the same problem! A lot of it is finding time throughout the day to do it...I'm usually at school all day most days or at one of my two jobs or working on an art project...plus cooking, cleaning, etc. I can't seem to ever work in time to exercise. However, I recently bought a small (fairly cheap) recumbent exercise bike...for $120 it's nice and we just keep it plopped in front of our tv so if i have a few minutes and am watching TV, I can use that instead of just sitting there.

I got Wii Fit but barely play it (much less play my Wii period *disgruntled gamer*)...but i find its a good way to get started with exercising if you are trying to get a new routine.

However, I've learned that lifting weights is a good way to get your metabolism started... So i went out and bought a couple of small 2 lbs. dumbbells and brought over my fiances weight set he had. When I do work out, I do at least 10-15 mins of simple weight exercises, then i do the bike (i try to do 30 mins, but 15 is good too).

I also found some podcasts that make 30-60 mins casts of music just for work outs. I've found one for people who want to job/run, but since i don't like running (bad knees), i use it for my bike! It's up beat music and they change the BPM every few mins so you can go from a slower speed to a faster speed, kind of like circuit training, but not. haha.

I have a bunch of gals at work that I "work out" with during lunch. We've been doing walk away the pounds dvds for 20-25 minutes every day M-F. I find that I'm much more "into" it if I'm leading others. It's weird. If it's just me, I'm not as into it and tend to shirk off. If others are there, I work out.

I really want a wii because of all the "active" games. I used to play DDR all the time at home, but when my tv broke, I got out of the habit. I have a new tv (and don't watch tv at ALL!) so I really have no excuse for not hooking it up and going at it, other than my living room is lacking space due to mom moving in and boxes being everywhere. I really need to get more organized~

One thing that really helps me (a couple of people have mentioned it) is instead of doing just "exercise" to do a sport or an activity that forces you to make a commitment. For example, I have fencing class every tuesday. I feel committed to going to fencing class because I have to pay for lessons, buy equipment, buy USFA membership, etc., but also there's a sense that if fencing is happening on Tuesday whether I go or not, I feel like I'm obligated to go. Even though fencing is a one-person sport, you have a club that you're beholden to and people wonder where you are if you just don't show up. (Team sports work well because you have a team you're beholden to, but personally, I find that I feel too responsible when there's a group of people who are relying on me so directly. In fencing, people will be upset if I don't show up, but at the same time I won't cause them to lose any matches.) Dance was mentioned by someone and that's another great one; dancing is mega fun, so you don't feel like you're "working" when you go to a dance. If you're doing a choreographed form of dancing, like jazz, tap or ballet, you have a "team" that keeps you coming. If you have a more "for fun" kind of dance like Contra, Square or Couples dance (e.g., Waltzing, Foxtrot, Lindy Hop etc), you'll keep going just because that kind of dance is so freaking fun. I always hate to miss Contra dance the second Friday of the month because I have an absolute blast.

I think in this country a lot of people fail at exercise because we think of doing it for it's own sake. Instead of thinking about exercise like going to the gym, I think it helps to center your exercise around an activity that involves exercising, be it dancing, fencing, basketball, eastern martial arts, whatever. (During the summer, gardening is a great one, too.) When there's competition or improvement involved (or fun) I think we're more likely to stick to it.

my little siberian husky is my exercise, she has mass amount of energy everyday. so everyday i take her out to walks and jogs and i sometimes do the husky sledge thing that those alaskan people do with my bicycle. hahah its fun for me and my dog.

for people who doesnt have a pet i think you should try and gear up in your work out clothes first and decide from there. usually for me i say to myself " since im already dress up working out, mine as well do it". good luck!

I made a decision along time ago about motivation, I just don't have much or any for that matter when it comes to physcial activity. I would always find a reason not to manage it into my daily schedule. So, I just accepted that I don't use my lack of motivation to contribute to my lack of pyhscial activity.

So, in order to get some physcial activity into my regimine, I do little things, like contract my abs almost all the time that I am standing or sitting. Do dips on a chair while I sit down, flex my arms as I am washing the dishings, hold one legged yoga pose as I am watching something cook on the stove or in the oven. Contract my abs and twist and hold them as I am sweaping or mopping the floors of my house. Contract and flex my glutes while laying in bed etc.

If I "work out" at home, I use my own body weight. So I do a few push ups, some glute work and lots of gradual stretching. This usually takes about five minutes of my day. Than I am done for the day and onto the next.

I am a lazy person and have lost my motiviation and desire to get physcial, but I must admit that it does not take alot to get into good shape it juse takes gradual and consistent effort. Even if my effort is not like it use to be. Training for me is part of my life, but it does not have to take up all my time and I don't really need special equipment to get into good physcial shape. Well of course when I train for a figure competition, weights and cardio are a must, but when I am just in regular mode, I fit in some sort of body activity through out my day. It helps feel a little better if I miss a "work out".

I'm planning on joining you after I have sorted out from our house move, tax return and trying to integrate my kitchen into my mothers. All of the recipes and bentos look so tempting!

About exercise, I have had numerous attempts at doing exercise at home (DDR), running (which I really don't enjoy), and yoga (which I love but seems to require a kick!). The only thing that really works for me is joining a dance class which has an ongoing choreography. A class (like ballet) which is just exercises and doesn't progress from week to week seems much easier to miss.

My main (and very calorie burning) class is flamenco and I hate to miss a class because then you have to catch up with the choreography when everyone has carefully learnt steps the previous week, and it is wonderful to do with other people around you, and you keep going much longer than you would think! It's managed to keep me going for 5 years now.

With the home exercise, it sometimes seems that it is daunting to aim to 'do an hour'. I often decide to 'just do ten minutes' and often carry on because I am enjoying it.

1. Signing up and paying for a sports event, such as a 10-k or 1/2 marathon. I don't have a lot of money, so paying good money to an event really forces me to train for it. And in training, finding a friend to meet up with at least once a week, preferably for a long run, forces me to stay committed. A long run on the weekend with a competitive friend ensures I train during the week so I don't get my butt kicked!

2. This may sound silly, but I search out fitness blogs, such as blogs by triathletes or folks who train others. Reading about what other people are doing and how much they enjoy it, seeing their photos or the goals they've reached, reminds me of how good it feels to exercise and get that endorphin rush. Reading fitnessfixation.com, a slightly crass (but amusing!) blog by a female personal trainer, is what got my butt to the gym last night! I also recommend athenadiaries.blogspot.com as a good blog by a plus-sized athlete who kicks butt (she does Ironmans) but also regularly struggles to keep off the weight and stay in shape.

Also, having two dogs who look at me accusingly when we don't go on regular hikes at least gets me outside once a week for sure.